On sidelines of UN General Assembly, Sri Lankan president calls Aukus ‘a mistake’ and rejects fears over China
- President Ranil Wickremesinghe also derided the term ‘Indo-Pacific’ as an artificial framework with an inconsistent definition
- He also countered recent claims by New Delhi that Beijing was sending ships to Sri Lanka to spy on India
“I think it’s a strategic misstep. I think they made a mistake,” Wickremesinghe added, describing the alliance as unnecessary. “I don’t think it was needed.”
02:12
Chinese research ship docks at Sri Lanka’s Hambantota port amid heightened regional tensions
Created in September 2021, Aukus is described by the governments of its member states as a security partnership involving information and technology sharing on nuclear-powered submarines, artificial intelligence, quantum technologies and additional undersea capabilities.
“Nobody knows what’s Indo-Pacific,” he said. “For some people, the Indo-Pacific ends on the western boundary of India, others take it into Africa, and some end up with Western Pacific, others go to South Pacific.”
The Sri Lankan leader said the Sino-US rivalry originated in the Western Pacific but had now spread to both the Indian Ocean and the South Pacific.
“Why we are getting pulled into it? It’s difficult for us to understand,” he said, stressing that he had seen many geopolitical blocs shifting in his decades-long political career.
“The next round of rivalry is going on. And that’s taking place in Asia. It’s the question of China versus the US, on how they are going to divide their region of influence in Asia,” Wickremesinghe said.
On an expected expansion of Nato into Asia, he said “as far as the Indian Ocean is concerned, we don’t want any military activity” and that most countries in the region “will not want Nato anywhere close by”.
01:02
‘Open lines of communication’: US Secretary of State meets Chinese Vice-President on UN sidelines
Sri Lanka’s Hambatota port has long been cited in discussion around China’s lending practices along with accusations of “debt-trap diplomacy” but in his address on Monday, Wickremesinghe accused the West of having a scant understanding of how the Indian Ocean region operates.
He rejected reports that Colombo was letting Beijing operate a military base in Sri Lanka. He said the Hambantota was a commercial port run by Chinese state-owned China Merchants Group, and that the security of the port lay with the Sri Lanka Navy.
“There are no spy ships in Sri Lanka. I don’t know if anyone can establish a spy ship,” Wickremesinghe said, describing them as “research vessels” that had been visiting for the past 10 years under an agreement between the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Sri Lanka’s national aquatic research agency.